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The Anglers Assistant being an Epitomy of ye whole Art of Angling wherein is shewn at one View ye Harbours, Seasons & Depths for catching all Sorts of Fish usually angled for. Also the various Baits … [London,] Sold by C.

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A fine and very rare broadside angling guide, the text probably written by Onesimus Ustonson (b. 1736), fishing tackle manufacturer and inventor of the multiplying reel, who had supplied equipment to Joseph Banks for Cook’s second voyage in 1772.

Ustonson’s Epitome was first published as a small pamphlet c. 1790, and is here issued in poster form for ready consultation, by his son Charles Ustonson (1775–1822), who took over the business in 1815. Onesimus Ustonson set up shop in the late 1760s and by 1775 had moved round the corner to a prominent position at 205 Fleet Street. The company traded as Ustonson & Son from 1792 to 1808 (with the involvement of Thomas Ustonson), as Onesimus Ustonson again (possibly another son?) in 1809–14, then as Charles Ustonson from 1815 until his death in 1822. His widow Maria succeeded him and won the royal warrant, which the company maintained through the reigns of three monarchs.

ESTC lists two copies (Princeton, Yale), dating the work to after the mid-1790s; Library Hub adds copies at the British Library.

ESTC N478596; Westwood & Satchell p. xiii.

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